Signal selecting means



July 22, 1952 W. I YoNs SIGNAL SELECTING MEANS Filed Nov. 12, 1947 ATTO 'N EY July 22, 1952 w. I YoNs 2,604,587 f SIGNAL SELECTING MEANS Fild NOV. l2, 1947 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 DIVERS/Ty l-''ECTOR @umbria/snc 0F rama;

A {CARR/ER INVENTOR wALER LYoNs BY /"*5 IU-M Patented July 22, 1952 ,i2-2604,58# SIGNAL snLECTING MEANs Q93? were,

rents.:which;may represent side band. energyv or side'fband'fenergyand carrier .energy and: 1101.5?.

components' andi other interfering components thereon.; My. inventionl isiof particular use4 in diversity systems wherein to reduce the effects offfading; a'iplurality of.v signals are pickedup and-'the bestth'ereof selected for use. i Irlthe priorV art ofdiyersity signalling, thesigfnalvesion'having the strongestv carrier is usually selected'.l '-Thisdoes not always insure` selection oi the bestlsignal because thestrongest .carrier may have thepoorest signal to noise ratio'.

Thel` purpose of my. invention is` topioyide a diversitysystem where. the best signal is selected at all' times. To do this, YI produce in eachk reN ceiver-a potentialiproportional to the noise c ontent -which is used. to. decrease the Y gain in. that receiver. Then in the gating or switchingrectner commonloadthe potentiaiisinversely proportionalv to the noise and directly proportional tb Vthe carrier strength. In other words, the switching potential'available will Vhe proportional to vthe si'gnal to.` noise ratioY fand' insure .that the receiver-ndiversity connection, wherein the sig,- nal to noise ratio Aisloest, will be utilized.

In -my improved system, the diversity switchingpotentialv is proportional to the signal to noise ratio rather than. tothe `signal plus noise, voltage as in general practice in known' diversity receiver systems. rThis relation between theswitching potential and the signal noise ratio is obtained by including-fineans, in addition to those usually included in receivers for diversity combination, to reduce the ampliiication in eachv recenter-as thenoisecontent ofthe Signal in each receiver increases, 'U-hey I neansl propose includes av band elimination iilter inserted between or in J the signal channel supplying only side band components of noise and signal, prmnafntlynd little-carrier voltage toA a rectifier. The rectified sidebandpotential is used tadecrease the amplincation innemen-frequency channel before, the

that' me. switching potential is inversely proportionalA to thev noise and as before directly prof :portionai ltothe carrier., Thus Athe switching diversity'potential is proportional directly'to the A I. disclose imnroyd ,4.5 signal reaches- .the diversity. Switching mechas@ application November 12, 19417.; .Serial Nc.7,8 5.44,9. 3 sans in accor ancewith rnyinvention. Inthis figur;l

many u e circuit 'nts' are r'epr s ed rectan since-f e wn n th t only.` those f eat re w "h are noyeldhaveb n 5 FiaZlluSiraiefS a' msntofFie-L d' ng,-

C Qivif'iv fy 1h designated channel A, `theot erc channels -are essentially th tn crjeqfwin'bc'c ci ed. lar parts are d' c haraeters".v those'. use'din'tchann en avisen@ "e iii1is adiri e' pires a t@ a raisffsuiicy mais :nay be conventional and includsft ory stages with its or 'theirigfridbias flor automatic gain'conftrcl purposes manner bypotential'sbn '1ead`"l2'.'`The. currents representing thesis l the amplifier I0 to a 'rst s einer@ l one enll'ot'linentfz;l potenti 2.2 the nature ofwchpotent lsdwillm scribed hereinafter. l

The beatl frequency energy ampiincationlfrin unit 2li ,24"W1lere'i`] 'f between' the", snipiie" in Qurmt .Y

.Seite @filiseiaesdisn ,instalereneiy s produce a potential which represents the com ponents left after eliminating the carrier, and as a. consequence this rectified potential is proportional to the remaining side band components representing the noise. In the embodiment illustrated, the resulting energy from which the carrier is removed more or less completely issupplied to a transformer 40, the secondary winding of which is in a rectifier circuit including diode 42` and load impedance 44 including a resistor anda capacitor in parallel. The diode is so poled that a negative potential is producedV at the point 46 and this potential is supplied by switch S, in the #l position, through lead 28 to the intermediate frequency amplifier stage 34 following the stage 30. When switch S is moved into the #2 position, the potential developed at point 46 is fed by lead 22 to intermediate frequency stages in the intermediate frequency amplifier 20 at a point preceding the stage 30 from which the energy providing said potential was diverted.

The `rectifier 36 includes a diode D connected to the secondary winding of transformer T2 so poled that the potential developed in its load impedance 54 comprising a resistor 31 and condenser in parallel is negative at the point 56. The load impedance 54 is theY output impedance and is common to all of the receivers in the diversity connection. An alternating current filtering network 58'may be included in each of the connections between the several diodes and the common load'resistor 54. The point 56 on the load impedance 54 is connected to the automatic vgain control circuit I2 by a time constant network CR. The potential at 56 thus provides the diversity switching action by blocking out or reducing output from those rectifier stages 36, 36',V etc., getting the weakest signals, and letting through output from that rectifier getting the strongest signal. This potential also perates in a conventional manner to control the gain in the several receivers. Y

AThe noise components rectified in diode 42 and appearing across impeder 44 are applied to switch point I and through lead 28 to control the gain of amplier 34 so that its gain is reduced as the noise components increase. Thus, this receiver now supplies at the point 56 a potential which is reduced as the noise increases and the resultant potential at 56 with my additional rectifier stage 40, A42, 44 in operation is less than the potential would be at this'point'without my additional rectier stage. The total potential appearing at the point 56 to ground isrthus inversely' proportional to the total noise on the several receivers.

Thus, it will be noted that with the automatic gain control action taking place in thestage 34 following the stage 30, each receiver of the system may have a fallinginput voltage' versus output potential characteristic, considering the noise rectifier action alone. If the switch S is in the #2 position so that the noise control potential is supplied by lead 22 to the stage 20 to control its gain in the same manner, the effect is substaneliminating the carrier may have a characteristic Y substantially as illustrated by the curve EP in Fig. 3.

In Fig. 2, I have illustrated a specific slightly modified embodiment of the arrangement of Fig. 1. In Fig. 2, I have omitted all of the circuit elements except the stages 30 and 34 of one receiver of Fig. 1. The output from stage 24 then appears in leads 60 and is supplied by transformer T3 to the control grid 65 of the tube 64. The tube 64 includes in addition to the amplifying electrodes, a diode including the tube cathode and an anode 66. The anode 61 of the tube 64 is connected to the primary winding of transformer T4, the secondary winding of which'supplies input to an additional stage including tube 10 and transformer T5 feeding the diode rectifier D in stage 36. The diode anode 66 is coupled by condenser 72 to the transformer T4 primary winding Lp and the transformer winding LP has a voltage developed thereacross which may be represented by the curve EP in Fig. 3. The rectifier 66, winding LP and capacitors |10 and 12 form a voltage peak rectifiex` sov that the voltage developed across the load resistor 'I4 also has a characteristic similar to that shown at EP in Fig. 3. The voltage rectified across resistor 'I4 represents primarily noise ,components and other voltages left after a substantial reduction in carrier and signal side bands. This potential representing primary noise is then applied by lead 'I8 and the secondary winding LS to the control grid of tube 'I0 to reduce its gain as the noise increases for the purpose set out in detail hereinbefore. The secondary winding LS has a characteristic as illustrated at ES in Fig. 3 and supplies signal to the stage 34 substantially in accordance with carrier strength and thus the signal is amplified and supplied to the output detcctor stage 36 for use. The switching and gain control potential as developed across the output impedance 54 is proportional to the signal to noise ratio as herein described before.

What is claimed is:

l. In a receiver system for signals comprising high frequency currents representing carrier and side band energy including two variable gain Vamplifiers coupled in cascade with the input of the first amplifier excited by said currents, a detector coupled to the output of the second amplifier, an output circuit for said detector including an impedance wherein is produced a potential which is proportional to the vsignal strength, means for controlling the gain of the rst amplifier inversely in accordance with said potential, separate means for developing a'potential proportional solely to the magnitude of the currents representing only side band energy, and means for controlling the gain of the second amplifier inversely' solely in accordance with said developed potential representing only sideband energy. 2. In a diversity system for signals comprising side bands including noise components, a plurality of receivers each including an amplifier of variable gain, means for impressing a different version of said signal on each receiver, a detector in each receiver, a common load impedance connected to all of said detectors across Which impedance Yis produced a potential proportional to the signal strength, a carrier elimination filter in each receiver excited by the signal in the corresponding receiver, said amplier in each receiver preceding the stage in each receiver supplying signal excitation to said lter, a rectifier system including an additional load impedance connected to the output of each lter, the potential produced in each additional impedance increasing with increases in magnitude of the energy passed by the corresponding filter, and means connecting the additional load impedance of each receiver to its amplifier to control the gain thereof in accordance with the corresponding last-named potential.

3. In a diversity system for signals comprising side bands including noise components, a plurality of receivers each including an amplifier of variable gain, means for impressing a different version of said signal on each receiver, a detector in each receiver, a common load impedance `connected to all of said detectors across WhichimpedanceV is produced a potential proportional to the signal strength, a single carrier elimination lter in each receiver excited by the signal in the corresponding receiver, said amplier in each receiver following the stage in each receiver supplying lsignal excitation to said lter, a rectifier system including an additional load impedance connected to the output of each lter, the potential prodjuced in each additional impedance increasingg` with increases in magnitude of only that energy` passed by the corresponding filter, and meansfconnecting the additional load impedance jofeach receiver to its amplifier to control the gainjthereof solely in accordance with the corresponding last-named potential dependent on the magnitude of only that energy passed by the respective carrier elimination lter.

WALTER LYONS.

*i REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this. patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

